Crucial information about deadlines, time limits, and making presentations accessible.

 

Before the Meeting

Preparing Your Presentation

  • Most sessions last for 90 minutes. Presentations, panelists’ remarks, and comments should conclude 30 minutes before the scheduled end of the session to allow for discussion with the audience.
  • Presentations should be delivered in an engaging, lively, and timely manner. The role of the presentation, whether describing new research or exploring a professional issue, is to stimulate discussion.
  • All presenters must get copies of their presentations to the chair and commentator a month in advance, to give them sufficient time to prepare their remarks.
  • Presenters should also provide the chair with a short biography.

Whether you are new to presenting or an old hand, we recommend taking a look at Paul N. Edwards’s guide, “How to Give an Academic Talk,” for suggestions about planning and executing a successful presentation. We also recommend Linda Kerber’s “Conference Rules” series, which offers tips for presenting, chairing a session, and commenting on and attending a session.

Sending Your Presentation to the Chair

All presenters must get copies of their papers or presentations to commentators and their chair by December 1. A month’s leeway is needed to give commentators sufficient time to prepare to facilitate discussion. This is a crucial deadline.

When you send your paper to the chair, please also provide a brief biography the chair may use to introduce you.

If your presentation obviously exceeds the time allotted to it, you will receive an email from your chair requesting that you prepare a shorter version.

Observing Time Limits

Most sessions last for 90 minutes. Chairs should be sure to leave at least 30 minutes for discussion. It is important that verbose participants do not cut into the time of other participants or into the time reserved for floor discussion.

Presenters and commentators should make sure that their presentations can be done in the time allotted. Presenters should practice and time their presentations in advance.

Posters

Guidelines for poster presenters, including instructions for requesting access to an electrical outlet, can be found here. Presenters can begin setting up their posters half an hour before the start of the poster session. Presenters are expected to remain with their posters to engage in discussion with the audience.

Accessibility

Speakers should be aware that there may be a raised dais in larger meeting rooms. Please let us know if this would pose an obstacle. The AHA is committed to providing equal access to the meeting to all participants. If you need reasonable accommodations, please contact us with your request by December 15.

For more information please review our Accommodations for Persons with Disabilities. Speakers should engage the attention of listeners, including those with disabilities. Please review our guidelines (below) for making your presentation accessible.

Presentation in Absentia

The AHA does not normally allow presentation via Skype, Zoom, or videoconference, as we find that it detracts from the experience for attendees, due to issues with sound quality and connectivity. It is also more difficult for the audience to interact with presenters who are not physically present. We do, however, allow presentations in absentia.

Audio/Visual

For AHA Sessions

Session organizers were required to indicate if audiovisual equipment would be needed when submitting the session. AHA staff will contact organizers in the fall to confirm orders. As indicated by the Annual Meeting Guidelines, AV equipment cannot be ordered through the AHA after June 1. Presenters may order equipment directly from the hotel at their own expense.

Please note that due to the high cost of rental, the AHA cannot provide computers for sessions. Those requesting projectors for PowerPoint presentations must supply their own laptop computers. The process works best if someone on the session volunteers to bring their laptop and allows those who are using the projector to load their presentations on that computer. Please ask presenters to email their presentation in advance. Otherwise, time is lost as presenters switch laptops.

Mac users: Because there several different types of Apple display ports, we strongly recommend that Mac users provide their own adaptor for connecting to html.

Presenters may wish to arrive at the meeting room half an hour before the scheduled start of the session to check the equipment, which will be placed in the meeting room approximately one hour before the session is scheduled to begin.

For Affiliate Sessions

Affiliates are responsible for ordering equipment for sessions solely sponsored by the organization. Policies vary by organization, and some affiliates do not provide AV equipment for sessions. Please contact the organization sponsoring your session in advance to confirm whether equipment will be available.

Problems Onsite

The staff in the AHA Headquarters Office can help. Workers in AHA t-shirts will circulate throughout the meeting hotels and check each meeting room to make sure that equipment is in working order, that rooms are at a comfortable temperature, and that water is available for the speakers. Feel free to flag them down if you have any problems or concerns.

At the Meeting

Recording Policy

The AHA and the press occasionally record sessions for use in broadcast and electronic media. Presenters who do not wish for their session to be recorded can opt out by completing this form by October 31. Presenters appearing on more than one session should fill out a separate form for each session they would like to opt out of recording.

Anyone who wishes to audio or video record must obtain permission of participants. The AHA is not responsible for unauthorized recording but does reserve the right to revoke registration of anyone who records sessions without appropriate permissions.

Live Tweeting

To facilitate virtual conversations arising from the annual meeting, the AHA encourages attendees to live tweet using both the meeting hashtag and the session hashtag, which is simply “s” and the session number: for example, session #1 would be hashtag #s1. Participants are encouraged to share their Twitter handles at the beginning of their presentations. Speakers presenting material that they do not wish to be live tweeted should make a request to the audience at that point, as well.

Last Minute Changes at the Meeting

If a participant is unexpectedly obliged to withdraw from the session for any reason, the chair should handle the problem or enlist the Program Committee chair’s or co-chair’s aid. Changes will be made online and in the meeting app. In addition, an announcement of the change should be made at the beginning of the session.

Making Presentations Accessible

Annual meeting speakers should be aware of the need to engage the attention of listeners, including those with disabilities. In the spirit of creative and continued dialogue, and in the hope of making the sessions more accessible to all, we offer some suggestions.

Presenters at the annual meeting should take steps to ensure that their presentations are accessible to all audience members:

  • Make eye contact with the audience and avoid monotone and/or rushed speech, which can make it difficult for many people to absorb the ideas in a presentation.
  • Avoid turning away from the audience while speaking.
  • In roundtables and discussions, only one speaker should talk at a time.
  • Moderators should repeat all questions and comments from the audience so everyone can hear.
  • Share copies of your talk, notes, or outline with audience members. Many people benefit from reading as well as hearing presentations.
  • Presenters using visual aids like PowerPoint, photographs, and video clips should describe all images, providing vital information to those with visual impairments.
  • If the session will be sign-language interpreted, presenters should provide a copy of their talk to the interpreter. Interpreters need time to prepare adequately for a panel to become familiar with the specific terminology, names, or concepts in the presentation.
  • Crafting accessible presentations demonstrates a commitment to AHA’s mission of promoting good practices, disseminating historical studies as broadly as possible, and fostering a network of scholars.

For more information on making scholarly presentations accessible, see the Modern Language Association’s “Access Guidelines for Convention Session Organizers and Speakers,” or the American Academy of Religion’s guidelines on “Making Your Presentations Disability Friendly.”

Based on an article by Susan Burch, Ohio State University, a member of the 2008 Local Arrangements Committee.

Practical Guidelines for Session Chairs

Before the Annual Meeting

  • Communicate with participants in advance, requesting any information you need to introduce them effectively, including their personal pronouns and the pronunciation of their name. If applicable, ask for a copy of their prepared remarks. Keep the introductions brief.
  • Be mindful of the time. Inform participants well in advance how long their presentations should take; be sure to leave ample time for discussion. Feel free to remind presenters that if they are speaking from a prepared text, one hundred words=approximately one minute.
  • Ask participants if any of them would prefer that the session not be live tweeted.
  • Please prepare a 3–5 minute introduction; this time is your opportunity to offer context for the session. What is at stake? Why do you think this is going to be an interesting conversation?
  • You might also consider preparing a few questions that will stimulate conversation among the panelists.

At the Panel Session

  • Start at the appointed time, welcome everyone to the session, and include the title of the session in your greeting for those who might have wandered into the wrong room.
  • Ask everyone to silence cell phones and other devices. Inform the audience if you are requesting that the session not be live tweeted.
  • Be concise in introducing the speakers.
  • Warn speakers when their time is nearly up, and stop them when they exceed it.
  • Presentations, panelists’ remarks, and comments should conclude 30 minutes before the scheduled end of the session to allow for discussion with the audience.
  • If you are moderating the discussion, repeat or summarize all questions and comments from the audience so that everyone can hear.
  • When moderating discussions, be sure to call on a diverse group of questioners. Be prepared to challenge offensive or discriminatory comments.
  • Do not allow the discussion to continue beyond the session’s announced end time.

Live tweeting: To facilitate virtual conversations arising from the annual meeting, the AHA encourages attendees to live tweet using both the meeting hashtag and the session hashtag, which is simply “s” and the session number: for example, session #1 would be hashtag #s1. Participants are encouraged to share their Twitter handles at the beginning of their presentations. Speakers presenting material that they do not wish to be live tweeted should make a request to the audience at that point, as well.